OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a man suspected of using his pickup to fatally run down an Omaha convenience store clerk earlier this month.

Police arrested 45-year-old Dirk Blume Tuesday at the Omaha real estate office where he worked. He was charged Thursday with second-degree murder and a weapons count for the Jan. 7 attack that killed 40-year-old Seth Hansen. A bond hearing for Blume has been set for Friday.

Police say Blume’s pickup was seen on surveillance video taken outside the store where Hansen was run over and killed while he took a trash bag to a dumpster in the store’s parking lot after the store had closed.

Blume remained jailed Thursday and could not be reached for comment. Online records didn’t list an attorney for Blume.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a man suspected of using his pickup to fatally injure a man at an Omaha convenience store parking lot.

Police say the 45-year-old man was arrested Tuesday at an Omaha real estate office and booked into Douglas County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder and use of a weapon. Online court records don’t show that he’s been formally charged yet.

Police say the pickup was seen on surveillance video taken outside the store where 40-year-old Seth Hansen was run over and killed early on Jan. 7. Hansen worked at the store.

It’s not yet clear whether the two men knew each other. Police have not publicly released any information about possible motives.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have talked to a man whose vehicle fatally struck an Iowa woman in southeast Nebraska.

Nineteen-year-old Merzedes Hart, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was killed late Friday night as she crossed U.S. Highway 6 northeast of Lincoln. The vehicle that hit her continued on.

The driver hasn’t been arrested, though. Capt. Ben Houchin of the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says investigators aren’t certain the driver knew that he’d struck a human being. He’s reported that he thought he struck a deer.

Hart was a student at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and was on the track team.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A man has died and eight other people — including firefighters and a police officer — have been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning in Grand Island.

Firefighters were sent to a home Tuesday on a medical call. They found the man and a woman in the basement. Authorities say the two were taken to a local hospital, where the man was pronounced dead. An autopsy has been ordered. The woman’s condition hasn’t been released.

The two people’s names haven’t been released.

Carbon monoxide monitors warned firefighters and the police officer of their exposure, so they were treated at the hospital as well. They were discharged after three hours of treatment.

Fire officials blamed the carbon monoxide buildup on unvented gas-powered space heaters.

FAIRMONT, Neb. (AP) — Flint Hills Resources has announced a planned $50 million expansion at its Fairmont ethanol plant.

The company will spend the money to produce a high-protein animal and fish feed ingredient from a portion of the plant’s distiller grains.

The technology, called maximized stillage co-products, was developed specifically for the dry mill ethanol industry.

Flint Hills says its Fairmont plant will be just the fourth in the world to use the technology.

It says the project will require the addition of a new building and two protein dryers. Its construction, set to be completed in the spring of 2018, is expected to create about 120 jobs.

The Fairmont plant produces 120 million gallons of ethanol and 310,000 tons of distillers grain a year.

RALSTON, Neb. (AP) — Ralston city leaders have decided that proceeds from keno operations in the city will underpin the red-tinged balance sheet at the Ralston Arena.

Mayor Don Groesser broke a 3-3 City Council tie on a funding resolution Tuesday in favor of initially redirecting $500,000 from the current keno proceeds fund of about $1.8 million. City Attorney Mark Klinker says arena officials will be able to draw on the $500,000 as needed and pay back the money.

The arena has failed to meet revenue projections. In the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2015, the arena lost $2.5 million on combined operations and debt service — $300,000 more than the previous year’s loss. The most recent fiscal year results have not been released yet.

 

DENVER (AP) — Denver is starting work on becoming the first city in the nation to allow marijuana clubs and public pot use in places such as coffee shops, yoga studios and art galleries.

Voters narrowly approved the “social use” measure last November. But the ballot proposal didn’t spell out many rules for how the marijuana could be consumed, beyond saying that the drug can’t be smoked inside and that patrons must be over 21.

A workgroup made up of Denver business owners, city pot regulators and marijuana opponents starts work Wednesday on suggesting regulations.

The state Liquor Control Board already has decreed that no businesses with a liquor license can allow marijuana use. That leaves it to restaurants that don’t serve alcohol and other event spaces.

There’s no deadline for Denver to finalize rules.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 54-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison — plus 126 years — for a 2015 shooting that left two people dead and another injured.

Michael Nolt was sentenced Thursday in Douglas County District Court. He was found guilty last October of first-degree murder and manslaughter for the Oct. 10, 2015, deaths of Malquan King and Arelius Hassell.

Prosecutors say the shootings were part of a botched robbery. They say Nolt shot Hassell in the face after a brief argument, and then shot two other people hiding in a closet, killing King.

Six children in the house at the time were not hurt.

EDGEMONT, S.D. (AP) — Two BNSF Railway employees have been struck and killed by a train near Edgemont in southwestern South Dakota.

A company statement says the accident happened around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday.

The scene is just north of where the tracks cross under U.S. Highway 18 near Edgemont. BNSF operates a rail yard on the east side of Edgemont.

The railroad’s statement says company officers are responding to the incident and will release more details when they are able.

Edgemont is about 60 miles southwest of Rapid City.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — An Arlington woman has been given 90 days in jail for the death of a memory care patient who was burned after falling asleep near a fireplace.

Court records say Anne Pavlik was sentenced Tuesday in Dodge County Court. The judge also gave Pavlik two years’ probation. She’d pleaded no contest to attempted abuse of a vulnerable adult in the death of 82-year-old Bernard Batten at a Fremont memory care center.

Investigators determined Batten awoke early on Feb. 12 and eventually sat in a chair. Pavlik, who was the only staffer on duty, didn’t notice Batten then pulled his chair near a fireplace fire and fell asleep.

Pavlik later found Batten was badly burned. An autopsy showed he died of natural causes and burns.